DTN Early Word Grains 12/15 05:57

DTN Early Word Grains 12/15 05:57 Hiking Along, Singing a Familiar Song March corn was fractionally lower, January soybeans were 1 cent lower, and March Chicago wheat was 3 cents lower. By Darin Newsom DTN Senior Analyst 6:00 a.m. CME Globex: March corn was fractionally lower, January soybeans were 1 cent lower, and March Chicago wheat was 3 cents lower. CME Globex Recap: As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25% Wednesday afternoon sparking a strong rally in the U.S. dollar that continued overnight. On top of that, Chairwoman Yellen said the same thing following last December's rate hike, that at least three additional hikes could be seen in 2017. Not surprising, U.S. 30-year T-Bonds and gold were hit hard with both showing sizeable losses early Thursday morning. On the other hand, the renewed strength of DJIA futures was somewhat surprising. As for grains, some activity was seen in soybeans and wheat though only the latter was still showing noticeable losses. OUTSIDE MARKETS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 118.68 points (0.6%) lower at 19,792.53. The NASDAQ Composite lost 27.16 points (0.5%) to 5,436.67, and the S&P 500 fell 18.44 points (0.8%) to close at 2,253.28 Wednesday. DJIA futures were 45 points higher Thursday morning. Asian markets were mostly lower with Japan's Nikkei up 20.18 points (0.1%), Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 397.22 points (1.8%), while China's Shanghai Composite lost 22.85 points (0.7%). European markets were mixed Thursday with London's FTSE 100 off 7.25 points (0.1%), Germany's DAX up 63.32 points (0.6%), and France's CAC 40 gaining 33.90 points (0.7%). The U.S. dollar index was 0.420 higher at 102.620, its highest level since January 2003. March 30-year T-Bonds was down 1 4/32 at 147 11/32 while December gold fell $31.80 to $1,131.90. Crude oil gained $0.29 to $51.33 while Brent crude rallied $0.52 to $54.42. China's Dalian soybean and Malaysian palm oil futures were both mostly higher overnight.